WEBVTT THIS IS "CHRONICLE" ON WCVB CHANNEL 5. UP ABOVE? A WORLD CLASS SKI RESORT. AND BELOW. A PLACE THAT BEGAN AS A REAL TOWN AND IT'S STILL A REAL TOWN. WORK AND PLAY GO HAND IN HAND IN STOWE, VERMONT. THERE'S ONLY ABOUT 3,000 OF THEM LEFT IN THE WORLD. AMERICA'S FIRST HORSE GETS A SECOND CHANCE, STARRING IN THE SOUND OF MUSIC PART TWO, THE REAL VON TRAPPS. IT'S PRETTY SPECTACULAR. NOW AVON TRAP BREWERY. MOUNTAIN BIKING CAN DO FOR VERMONT SUMMERS WHAT SKIING HAS DONE FOR THE WINTER. AND A FULL-TIME BLACK SMITH, PART-TIME PHILOSOPHER. THE MAIN STREETS AND BACK ROADS OF VERMONT, NEXT. GOOD EVENING. TRAVELING NEW ENGLAND'S MAIN STREETS AND BACK ROADS IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR US TO DISCOVER A TOWN THAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS MUCH LIKE IT DID 100 YEARS AGO. NOT SO VERMONT. AS TED REINSTEIN IS ABOUT TO SHOW US, THINGS AROUND STOWE ARE CHANGING FAST. THERE MAY BE DAYS WE FORGET OUR GOOD FORTUNE OF LIVING IN NEW ENGLAND. NOT THIS DAY IN VERMONT, AND NOT IN THE ICONIC TOWN OF STOWE. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS HERE, THE WHOLE COMMUNITY IS BEHIND YOU, GET HELP FROM EVERYBODY. IT'S TRULY AMAZING. NEW ENGLAND CHARM, IT'S PRETTY SMALL, YOU PRETTY MUCH KNOW EVERYBODY. STOWE IS A REAL COMMUNITY, IT HAS A REAL BACK BONE. STOWE IS A PLACE THAT BEGAN AS A REAL TOWN AND IT'S STILL A REAL TOWN. BEGAN AS A LOGGING AND SHEEP FARMING AND THEN COW FARMING, DAIRY TOWN. THEN SOMEONE BEGAN SKIING ON THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKI AREA SORT OF LAUNCHED IN ANOTHER DIRECTION. INDEED IT CAN SOMETIMES SEEM HARD TO SEPARATE THE LEGENDARY SKI AREA FROM THE LITTLE VILLAGE THAT SITS JUST SEVEN MILES OR SO DOWN THE ROAD PRETTY. THEY BOTH SHARE THE SAME NAME, AFTER ALL, SO IT'S NOT SURPRISING THAT FOR MANY PEOPLE, THAT STORIED MOUNTAIN IS WHAT THEY THINK OF FIRST WHEN THEY THINK OF STOWE. THE BEAUTY OF THE MOUNTAINS, THE QUALITY OF THE TERRAIN AND SO ON. STOWE IS THE AREA THAT'S MOST INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN OF ALL THE SKI AREAS IN VERMONT. VERMONTER AND VETERAN SKI WRITER IS THE AUTHOR OF STOWE. IT'S THE DREAM CHILD OF C.D. STAR WHO WAS THE FOUNDING FATHER OF A.I.G. THE INSURANCE STAR, AND HE WANTED TO CREATE A WORLD CLASS SKI RESORT IN THE NORTHERN PART OF VERMONT. SO THE RESULT IS STOWE. THESE SKIING PART OF STAR'S DREAM TOOK DEEP ROOT AND GREW OVER DECADES THE WIDER RESORT PART OF THE VISION, THOUGH, TOOK LONGER TO FULLY REALIZE. NORTHEASTERNERS ARE TAUGHT THAT WE SHOULDN'T EXPECT A LOT OUT OF OUR MOUNTAINS, AND I THINK WE REALLY SAID THAT SHOULDN'T BE THE CASE. THERE'S NO REASON WHY WE CAN'T HAVE SPECTACULAR HOMES TO COMPLEMENT WHAT'S ALWAYS BEEN A SPECTACULAR MOUNTAIN. WHEN WE WERE LAST HERE IN 2007, CONSTRUCTION WAS STILL UNDER WAY ON THE MASSIVE STOWE MOUNTAIN LODGE. TODAY IT NESTLES COMPLETE AND COMMANDINGLY NEAR THE BASE OF VERMONT'S HIGHEST PEAK. ON THE SURROUNDING HILLS, A GOLF COURSE LAYS OUT BENEATH MULTIMILLION DOLLAR HOMES, AND IN THE HOTEL ITSELF DESIGNS AND FLUSHISHES AS EXPANSIVE AS THE MOUNTAIN THAT LOOMS OVER IT. WHAT WE'VE TRIED TO DECEMBER TAKE OUR SURROUNDINGS HERE AND BUILD SOMETHING THAT COMPLEMENTS NATURE AND IS THAT HERE AT THE HEIGHT OF LUXURY WITHIN NATURE. THREE YEARS AGO THE CURTAIN ALSO ROSE ON A NEW $9 MILLION, 420 SEAT PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, AND WHILE UPSTAGING THAT IMPOSING MOUNTAIN MIGHT SEEM DIFFICULT, THERE ARE OTHER PLACES HERE TOO WHERE ONE IS LIKELY TO BE AT LEAST TEMPORARILY DISTRACTED. WE HAVE PEOPLE COME FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO THIS RESORT TO EXPERIENCE VERMONT. SO I WANT TO SHOW THEM OFF WHAT WE HAVE HERE, JUST IN STOWE AND IN LIKE THE 10-MILE RADIUS AROUND HERE, THE AMOUNT OF FOOD THAT I CAN GET IS INCREDIBLE. THE BEST CHEESES. I THINK IN THE WORLD. EVEN THOUGH WE'RE A LARGE SCALE RESORT, FOUR DIAMOND AND EVERYTHING, TO GET THAT FARM TO TABLE FEEL, IT'S STILL HERE. WHAT IS ALSO STILL HERE IS A WIDER STOWE COMMUNITY APART FROM THE MOUNTAIN, BUT TETHERED TO IT AND ITS GROWTH NONETHELESS. IT'S A RELATIONSHIP THAT ALL SIDE HAVE A STAKE IN SUSTAINING. THE TOWN AND MOUNTAIN HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERTWINED. WE EMBARKED ON THIS VISION, IT WAS A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS AND WE REALLY SEE STOWE AND MOUNT MANSFIELD AS THE COMMUNITY'S MOUNTAIN AND THE COMMUNITY'S PLACE TO RECREATE. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE WAS VERY LITTLE UP THERE 10 YEARS AGO, AND NOW THERE'S A VILLAGE. THERE'S A LARGE COMMUNITY. AND THERE'S GREAT AFFLUENTS UP THERE, AND IT IS STUNNING. SO I WOULDN'T QUITE PUT IT AS A SEE SAW, BUT WE ARE SEVEN, MILES AWAY, SO THE COMING TOGETHER IS OUR CHALLENGE I THINK. AND IT'S A GOOD CHALLENGE BECAUSE WHAT THEY'VE BUILT UP THERE ECONOMICALLY HUGE FOR VERMONT AND FOR THIS AREA. IN TRUTH, WHAT'S BEEN BUILT HERE TODAY REALLY FOLLOWS ALONG HISTORY OF BUILDING HERE, INCLUDING A FORMER HOTEL AT THE TOP OF THIS FABLED MOUNTAIN ITSELF. THIS WHOLE DEVELOPMENT HERE IS NOT A NOVEL CONCEPT, IT'S PART OF THIS CONTINUING PROCESS THAT WE'VE BEEN ON FOR THE LAST CENTURY. AND NEAR IN THE FINAL PHASE OF BUILDING THAT MOUNTAIN CABIN NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY STARTED LAST AUGUST, THEY SHOULD BE DONE SOMETIME NEXT FALL, IN TIME FOR NEXT WINTER. AND IT'S JUST SPECTACULAR, AS YOU'VE SEEN. MOUNT MANSFIELD, ISN'T THAT THE SITE OF THE FIRST LIFT IN THE COUNTRY AND ALSO WHERE THE SKI PATROL FIRST ORGANIZED. A LOT OF HISTORY THERE. THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH IS TO BE FOUND ON TWO WHEELS. WE'RE ALL GETTING OLDER, BUT WE WANT TO STAY YOUNG. MOUNTAIN BIKING, THE NEXT BIG